U18 Virtus Bologna locked up third place at the Euroleague Basketball ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Qualifying Tournament – Torneo Citta di Roma by winning an all-Italian battle with U18 Armani Junior Milan 77-63. Lorenzo Penna led the way for Virtus with 29 points – including 13 points in the final five minutes, while Danilo Petrovic collected 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Mirko Carella added 11 points in the win. The 20 points from Tommaso Baldasso were not enough for Milan, which finished fourth in the tournament. Michele D’Ambrosio scored 13 points and Bereket Sovera and Davide Toffali both had 10 points in the loss.

Tommaso Oxilia and Petrovic scored to give Virtus a 4-0 lead with D’Ambrosio knocking down a three-pointer for Milan’s first basket. Virtus responded with the next 9 points thanks to a three from Carella and two more Petrovic baskets for a 13-3 advantage. After Sovera and Omar Dieng hit triples at the other end, Baldasso scored 4 points and Sovera knocked down 2 free throws to even the game, 17-17. It was 19-19 after 10 minutes. Michele Serpilli scored to open the second quarter for Milan only to see a pair of Petrovic baskets spark an 8-0 run that put Virtus up 27-21. Back-to-back scores from Baldasso evened the game at 29-29 and Serpilli pushed Milan back ahead 29-32 with a triple. Virtus answered with the final six points of the first half and led 35-32 at intermission.

Alessandro Pajola increased the margin to 5 points and it was 41-36 after 2 Petrovic free throws. Sovera followed with a three and D’Ambrosio’s put-back tied the contest again at 41-41. Michele Rubbini hit a three-pointer at the other end to start a 14-4 run to finish the quarter with Lorenzo Penna adding 5 points for a 55-45 cushion after 30 minutes. The deficit was 55-50 after a D’Ambrosio three-pointer, but Penna punched right back with a triple and another basket for a 60-52 lead. D’Ambrosio knocked down yet another three and Baldasso’s 2 free throws got the margin to 60-57. Milan could not get the stops defensively though and Penna hit another triple to make it 65-57. Toffali and Baldasso both trimmed the margin to 6 with free throws. But Carella and Penna both scored at the other end, and Penna made 4 free throws in the final minute to ice the game.